White House ready to issue order mandating all US aid overseas be delivered by US-flagged ships

The US administration of President Donald Trump is preparing an executive order which will require all US aid to be delivered by US-flagged vessels, according to Reuters.

Under current rules only half of all aid shipments need to be US-flagged.

Critics on both sides of the American political aisle have questioned the wisdom of the mooted move, which jibes with Trump’s much-touted “America first” slogan.

Naysayers include the right-wing think tank the American Enterprise Institute which said in November, in an unrelated matter, that shipping aid on US vessels costs 46% more than on non-US ships and could take 14 weeks longer in some cases.

With 28 years experience writing and editing for newspapers in the UK and Hong Kong, Donal is now based in California from where he covers the Americas for Splash as well as ensuring the site is loaded through the Western Hemisphere timezone.